


(It Feels Like) We Chose This Blindly

by BlueDarknessIceHeart



Series: Fire Starter//Ash Covered [3]
Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Comfort, Discussion of Children, Emotional Baggage, Established Relationship, F/M, Implied Sexual Content, Lucio is less of an ass around Alia and I'm not sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-08
Updated: 2018-03-08
Packaged: 2019-03-28 13:34:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13905078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueDarknessIceHeart/pseuds/BlueDarknessIceHeart
Summary: "Two ex-mercenaries, at the time mercenaries very tits-deep in the business, who are now a Count and the Count's mistress that openly put politics before her own happiness." the bite to her words had him sitting up, pulling her back into his lap."You're shaking, take a minute.""If I haven't broken anything, I'm doing great by usual standards." she turned her face to press herself fully against his chest and smiled into the vibration of his laugh.





	1. Chapter 1

"I don't waaant to go." 

Lucio was sprawled across the bed, the pitch of his voice thrown to a whine. 

Alia looked up at him, eyes coming just above the papers in her hands. 

"You're whining like a child, darling." 

"Liiiiaaaa." 

"I don't want to hear it." 

He rolled over, and she arched a brow. 

"But- I'm going to be _gone_ for _weeks_ and-" 

The noise she made was sharp, and cut Lucio's impending speech off before it could truly begin. 

Lucio blinked at her, confused and astonished. "That's the noise you make at Mercedes and Melchior when you're mad at them, Alia." 

"It's the noise I make when they're _misbehaving_ , like you are right now." 

The annoyed quirk to his lips had her biting back a smirk. 

"I'm not a _dog-_ " 

"Yet you behave like one that's never understood a command in its life." she sat aside the missives; moving over to the bed and casually tossing herself across him, knocking him flat on his back. 

"You have your lover handling your paperwork, your _buisness partner_ handling your courtiers with your lover's help, and you whine about a simple visit?" 

"Come with me and I won't whine." 

Alia sighed, leaning up to press a kiss to his jaw. 

"I'll think about it."   
\- -  
"Lucio, _Lucio_."

"Hmm?" 

Alia swatted him away from her neck, the grin he wore pulling one from her. 

"You're already why I have to wear the high neck dress, stop trying to add more." 

Going out was entirely different from what she expected. Every other time she ventured out with Lucio for something important, it was somewhere she hadn't heard of and it went off the rails very quickly. 

They'd practically lived here, during one of the quieter times of their lives, and it was touching, in a way, to see it again. 

The very last thing she'd expected was kids, curious ones at that, to clambor into their path. 

"Is it true you can do magic, miss Alia?" 

Alia had one of the youngest up on her hip, her smile genuine and sweet.

She hadn't been around kids in years, the one set of human beings she got along with. 

"Yes, it is. Do you want to see?" 

"Yeah, yeah!" a chorus of excitement and she twirled a bright gold bird into the air from her fingertip. 

"Count Lucio?" 

Alia turned her attention to her lover along with the small group of children. 

"Yes?" it was as equally curious as the children. 

"How did your arm get gold?" 

"I lost it in a fight, a long time ago." Lucio had moved next to her, and she shifted the child on her hip to the other side to let him get his arm around her. 

"Someone made me this one as a replacement, and then Alia used magic to make it so I could use it." 

"That's so cool!" 

Alia heard the bell ring off in the distance, and reached down to tap a crouching Lucio on the head. 

"As much as I'm loving this," the note of sadness to her voice didn't go unnoticed and she saw it in the quick falter of his expression, "we have meetings." 

The rising "awwwws" the came from below her had her laughing as she bent down to place the child on her hip back down. 

"Here, if you see us around again, you know you can talk to us." 

The sound of awed children followed behind them, the small golden lights above their heads allowing them to leave quietly.


	2. Chapter 2

Politics let her wash the bittersweet feeling of _wanting_ from her mouth. 

Negotiations were easy, simple, and being known names and faces helped tremendously - and she was good again. Walking back to their room with the familiar weight of his arm around her waist and the sun creeping ever further towards sunset.   
It felt like home,being away from Vesuvia's court. 

"I was right." 

"About what, exactly?" 

"You, my dear, needed to get out of the palace." 

Alia's confusion was clear, and his laughter gave her no answers. 

"You've been on the brink of burning the palace to the ground for a month, and everyone says _I_ have the temper." 

Her elbow dug into his side, "That's because you _do._ I hadn't even noticed I was being temperamental, which is odd."

Lucio took care to place his metal plating away from her claws, the one time they'd been mixed together was the _last._

"Have you considered that you just need out? I know - don't look at me like that - I know you run things on my behalf but you also have to breathe lest we have two of me." 

"Since when did you become the smart one in this relationship?" she practically threw her dress into his pile of clothing, the high collar of it grating at her nerves. 

Lucio pulled her to him, and fell to the bed. 

"How did you explain it to me, all those years ago?" 

"What are you-" 

" 'We're terrible with our own emotions, but at least I have a vague grip on other people's, you utter _ass_ ' was one iteration if I remember correctly." 

"I do not sound like that." 

"You did when you were younger - anyways, it's been long enough, 'Lia. I'm not that dense." 

She huffed, letting her head fall to his chest; finally beginning to relax when his hands came to her hair. 

"Lucio are you braiding my hair?" she could feel the slight tug to his movements, even when she was half asleep.

"Maybe." he sounded teasing, which only confirmed it.

"Fine, braid away. If I fall asleep on you, you're keeping me here." 

"I wouldn't dream of moving you, firecracker."


	3. Chapter 3

They'd moved themselves, winding around eachother onto their sides, Lucio curling around her like always.

It was a comfortable silence, his head in the crook of her neck and hand tracing patterns onto the skin of her bare stomach. 

"What's running through that pretty head of yours, sweetheart?" he sounded like he had just woken up, voice quiet against her skin. 

Lucio felt the sigh before he heard it, pulling her closer to him and nuzzling into her neck. 

"It can't be that bad." 

"It's just. Do you ever think about how our lives would have gone if we were just...normal?" 

The silence made her anxious, in a way. Heavy like the blankets that they'd kicked to cover only their feet. 

"Sometimes, if I'm honest." 

"I mean eventually dropping the mercenary thing, just. Living." she rolled over to look at him, found the curiosity and worry in his eyes and felt the pull on her heart. 

"Just me and you, none of the titles or the poisoned wine cups in taverns, just a house somewhere and-" she cut herself off, the noise she made raising his eyebrow. 

"What is it, Alia. You're going to kill me with the curiosity." 

"It just sounds stupid, it's too idyllic, too out of reach. Just some fantasy for teenage girls, not grown women who have bloodied hands." 

He propped himself up, looking down at her with an intensity that she hadn't seen in what felt like years - only for him to fall back down beside her moments later with a heavy sigh. 

"Alia, you want a family." 

"I-" she sat up entirely, scrubbing a hand across her eyes. 

"Yes. In the small dream world I've built up it's nice and easy and there's a kid or two. Call it a guilty pleasure, or a wound that won't heal." 

It was her turn to stare down at him, her gaze not as piercing in its search as his was; hers more open and hoping than digging for answers. 

"Why did you never mention it? It's not like we've been together for years or anything." 

"What have we discussed about sass during emotionally fragile moments - but I never said anything because _look at us_ we're not exactly prime parenting material. Two ex-mercenaries, at the time mercenaries very tits-deep in the business, who are now a Count and the Count's mistress that openly put politics before her own happiness." the bite to her words had him sitting up, pulling her back into his lap. 

"You're shaking, take a minute." 

"If I haven't broken anything, I'm doing great by usual standards." she turned her face to press herself fully against his chest and smiled into the vibration of his laugh. 

He set about redoing the braid he never finished, and waited for her to stop trembling. 

"Would you have even wanted kids?" 

"Alia, sweetheart, I'd _still_ want kids as long as they're with you." 

"You've thought about this." 

"Maybe." 

" _Lucio._ " 

"Okay, yes, caught me red handed. It's an appealing thought. And I would call it terrifying, but I have a reputation to maintain." 

Her kiss caught him off guard, his hands dropping from her hair to her hips even as she rose to her knees over him. 

"Count of Vesuvia has a child with his long-term lover and now mistress, what a _scandal._ " 

He grinned up at her, teeth catching the light that filtered in through the window. 

"Scandal may just run in the family, you never know." 

Alia raked fingers through his hair, and he pulled her back down into his lap, her knees up by his hips. His grip on her hip tightened, braid coming undone and sending hair fanning out behind her when he flipped them over. 

She laughed, blinking up at him with a smile as she tugged him down towards her by golden strands of hair. 

"I feel like testing that theory."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Emotional whiplash is their specialty, and therefore mine.


End file.
